On The Last Day of Your Life…

I’ve got to ask you something a bit personal.

But… the “when” of my question might seem a bit… off.

You see, I want to ask you what was that one dream -
the one thing that you’d wanted your entire life,
BUT
were never able to do… to have… to accomplish.

And I want to ask you this
on the last day of your life.

Wow.  OK.
This is a difficult thing for me to ask -
and even as I’m sitting here,
chills run down my spine.
No time for that.  Onward.

I’m beginning to think when I told you
this was personal – I wasn’t kidding.
This is way more personal than you know.

Good thing I’m among friends.

So here you and I sit,
and tomorrow finds us no more.

what was that one dream – the one thing
that you’d wanted your entire life,
and were never able to do…
to have… to accomplish?

What price would you have paid for it?
To what ends would you go and to what extent?
What would you give up – what would you sacrifice?
To what places would you go, travels would you venture?

It’s much easier to look back on your life AT THE END
and see how all that you would have given
only seemed a sacrifice at the time.

On the other side of the coin,
you will also see at what point
you gave up… you quit…
you settled for.

Because I need you to see both what you could’ve had
and what you accepted as “good enough” for your Life.

And you know what?
I want you to lose sleep over this.
Heck, it’s 3:45am right now – and
if I’m going to lose sleep trying to
get this message to the person who is at
a point in their life where they are ready
to throw in the towel at the brink of achieving
something amazing BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW
HOW CLOSE THEY ARE… then so are you!
Because it could be you.

I really really want you to take
a good hard look at what I just said.
You do not know when your finest hour is until it is.
You will never know that moment that made all of
the difference in the world until after it happens.
And if you decide to stop because the going gets rough,
or because things are harder than you thought they’d be -
can I just tell you that the cost of losing what you
might have had will be far too high a price to pay?

You know that now, sitting with me
here at what is your final day.
Don’t forget – that’s where we are.

And you also know you’d give anything
to go back and do it over again.

So I want to give you a chance to change
the past that has yet to be created.

I’d like you to take a step back from whatever
cruise control and comfort zone you’ve created
your life to be in and on and pretend that right
here and now you have direct control over your
life and the direction it will go and flow.

Keep in mind that, until we move on from the
memories that serve to remind us of our failures –
that constantly renew our fears and tear our
hearts as they try and mend; we will ever
remain blind to the beauty and the
blessings that surround us every day.
There are, right now, more opportunities
surrounding you than you even
know what to do with.
That you do not recognize them
does not mean they don’t exist.
Like so many things, they are merely
out of YOUR sight – out of your vision.
And if you rely only on what YOU see
and what you perceive in Life -
your vision will always be lacking.

And guess what?
Yesterday – all of them – are behind us.
Do not live there. Do not stay there.
Gather from them those things that lift you up
and inspire you to move forward and ahead -
not give you further cause to go back.

Stop pointing at the events passed and blaming them
for where you are, how you feel and what you do.
The rut you’ve created by always going back to the past
is making it harder and harder for you to choose
and create a better path for your Life.

Got it??
Don’t nod if you don’t.

Now, a major shift in how we’re going to
move beyond where we would normally stop
is a bit of a game.  Let’s pretend that
there is no limit to what we can ask of
Life and those who share it with us.

And here’s a little secret;
imagine that you’re worth it
and that you deserve it.

So I’m going to say something I’ve said
time and time again in hopes it sinks in.

In this Life – this one life we have to live -
most of us give up and in too soon and play small.
We don’t ask for more, and we expect so much less.

Practice living a bold and amazing life;
request of this World and we who live in it
the means with which to build your dreams.

If we never ask, we’ll never get:
and if we shoot for the stars
we might just get the moon…

Right?

Because you and I both know by now that most
people in this country (I’ll say the average)
have chosen to settle for taking sips of what
they want out of life instead of going
for the gusto & drinking deeply.
They live within a certain comfort zone,
work about 40 hours a week,
take a 2 week vacation
sleep 8 hours a night.
They live for the brief freedom of their weekend,
doing those things that relieve the stress and
strains that they’ve spent the week creating.

Years ago I believed that the reason this was
the path of the “common” man must be simply
because they didn’t know any better.
What I’ve come to realize is that most people,
even if given a choice and the opportunity to change
their situation will STILL do the familiar and comfortable.
They go through the motions of Life; they settle for
what is given them and rarely stretch themselves
beyond what they know and believe is achievable.

Like I’ve said before,
it’s always easier
to NOT do something
than it is to DO.
With that I should add that it’s far easier
to tell stories and create justifications
as to WHY we live our lives the way we do –
and how we’re right to do so.  Note that I
didn’t say we tell these stories out loud,
though I’ve heard every excuse in the book
from people as to why they don’t do the things
in Life that would allow them to achieve those
things that they’ve shared they really want.
Typically the excuses & justifications
are kept in the mind – that way they
aren’t open for any debate that might
require contemplation, change, and
possibly confrontation with the
man (or woman) in the mirror.

And by the way, if you are weighing
your circumstances heavily as a factor
in determining  what you believe possible;
Do you know what circumstances are ?
It’s a word typically used by those who
have given up to describe the things
that have supposedly caused
their situation to exist.

So what if circumstances are never “right”
for you to take the trip of a lifetime -
what if it’s never the right time to embark
on the Journey of your dreams?

Are you just going to give up on them?

Are you going to say it must mean that it
wasn’t meant to be, and let the dreams die?

Are you just going to lower your dreams
and expectations until you find one
that is convenient and easy?

I know it’s easier to settle for the easier path -
I know it’s easier to find something that “fits”
with your current situation and familiarity.

I know it’s easier
to fall in line
than take a stand.

But is it worth it?

In your final days, can you be proud
that you gave up on your dreams and
ambitions for mere security and comfort?
Will you boast that you took the easy path?

I want you to seriously think about this.
Turn off the TV, the stereo, and whatever else
you have tuning out your deeper realms of thought.

This is your Life we’re talking about,
and you only have one of them.

You don’t want to be someone
who looks back at their Life and
realizes that they wasted it away.

Stop playing with your passions and desires
as if they were merely toys and trinkets.
Build and regain your sense of purpose
so that it is a driving force that
pushes you beyond your limiting beliefs
and pulls you out of your “settled for” Life.

And don’t tell me it’s not worth it -
because what you’re really saying
is that YOU aren’t worth it.

And that’s something else we need to talk about…